Rockford alderman wants billboards gone

Billboards that line the city’s streets could become a thing of the past if one Rockford alderman has his way.

Ald. Tim Durkee, who leads the city’s Planning and Development Committee, wants the city to develop a process to remove billboards.

Durkee pitched plans to reduce or completely eliminate billboards in the city as part of more than a dozen objectives he outlined for the committee to tackle over the next year. Other objectives introduced this week include expanding fiber-optic access, redevelopment along 11th Street, implementing a river taxi and working to convert Chestnut Street to two-way traffic, to name a few.

Durkee is not alone in his distaste for the large outdoor advertising. His proposal was immediately welcomed by fellow alderman Jeanne Oddo and has been a goal of Miracle Mile Rockford, a group of businesses, managers and residents working to revitalize their stretch of the East State Street corridor. It’s a pitch that has come and gone a few times in Rockford over the years.

“Billboards within the city proper, in my opinion and I think the opinion of a lot of residents, are unsightly,” Durkee said. “And they’re a distraction for motorists.”

Hundreds of communities across the country and four states — Vermont, Hawaii, Maine and Alaska — have banned billboards. In Illinois, there are about 60 communities that have said no to billboards, according to a working list compiled by Scenic America, a group that advocates for better aesthetics along the country’s roadways. The list includes Naperville, Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, Roscoe and Rochelle.

“When you drive through higher-end communities you don’t see billboards,” Durkee said. “I’m in favor of taking them all down over time.”

The majority of those on the Scenic America list have prohibited any new billboards from being built while they look for opportunities to remove existing billboards as leases run out, said Max Ashburn, communications director for Scenic America. That’s the approach Scenic America encourages communities to take.

The states that have banned them recognize the “scenic, natural beauty of the state and billboards are so antithetical to that beauty, so it only makes sense not to have them,” Ashburn said.

Rockford placed a cap on the number of billboards allowed in town more than a decade ago. The decision was a product of then-Mayor Doug Scott’s 14-member billboard task force in 2002. Billboards are also required to be 1 mile apart, as measured by their distance on the same side of the street. Existing billboards at the time of the new rules were grandfathered in.

Page 2 of 2 - The number of outdoor advertisements around town has been declining ever since, said Brad Yarmark, territory manager for Lamar Outdoor Advertising. Lamar made a deal about six years ago to remove 20 traditional billboards in exchange for installing three digital billboards.

There are 183 billboards in the city, including four electronic ones. That’s nine fewer than five years ago, according to city records.

Billboards have an economic benefit for landowners, who lease the land for ad space, and for the city, which reaps property taxes and license fees. The 183 billboards generate nearly $22,000 in license fees each year for the city. They’re attractive to advertisers because of their high visibility in high-traffic areas.

“Outdoor advertising is one of the oldest media around. It’s been found to be very effective by all different types of advertisers over the years,” Yarmark said in response to comments from aldermen who suggested billboards weren’t effective. “If advertisers ceased to find it effective, they would stop using it.”

There are seven billboards on the roughly 2-mile stretch of East State Street between Fairview Avenue and Mulford Road, promoting everything from fast food and cellphones to jewelry and eyewear. Those give billboard advertisers the potential to reach the 26,000 to 34,000 people who drive that route each day, according to Illinois Department of Transportation daily traffic counts.

Miracle Mile Rockford would like to see the “visual clutter” removed because it detracts from the neighborhood, said Executive Director Jennifer Hall. But she said it’s a difficult issue because they don’t want to hurt businesses’ ability to attract customers, while still considering neighborhood aesthetics.

“We have to be very careful because we’re a business district association and we want to support our businesses,” she said. “But we also know the residents and the people who drive through there think it’s visually cluttered.”